Today in 1964: Robert McNamara “Defense Secretary Robert McNamara stood at complete and unmilitary ease behind the lectern on the stage of the State Department auditorium. In cool and well-punctuated sentences, with never an uh or an er, he recited fact after fact, figure after figure, in response to the blunt questions of newsmen. McNamara's manner was that of a professor patiently explaining a simple matter to a slightly backward class. Yet his audience, over television, was the U.S…

On September 29, 1972, a Young, Unknown Artist Tried to Throw Robert McNamara, the Former Secretary of Defense, Off the Martha's Vineyard…

Robert McNamara was the Secretary of Defense for Kennedy and Johnson, but then resigned after the Tonkin Gulf Incident and the credibility gap during the Vietnam War. His resignation was also a big shock to the American people.